India confirms new double mutant coronavirus variant

Amid the huge spike in novel coronavirus cases in India, the health ministry on Wednesday confirmed a new "double mutant variant" found in Delhi, Maharashtra, and some other places. 

The Union Health Ministry, however, did not say whether the latest rise is due to the recently discovered variants. 

On Wednesday, 771 cases of variants of concern (VOCs) have been reported, out of which 736 were of the UK strain, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Director SK Singh said as reported by news agency PTI. 

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India has designated variants found in UK, Brazil, and South Africa as VOCs. 

Other than these, some other strains, including the double mutant one, have been detected in some states and union territories such as Maharashtra and Delhi.

"Till now no linkage has been established to say that the surge that we are seeing in different states is directly because of only mutations," Singh said. 

Also read | India reports 40,715 fresh COVID-19 cases, 199 deaths in last 24 hours

Meanwhile, India in the last 24 hours recorded 47,262 fresh Covid-19, the most so far this year, taking the overall caseload to 11,734,058, according to the government data. 

The nation's coronavirus death toll jumped to 160,441, with 275 new fatalities, the highest in approximately 83 days.